Hello and welcome! Finally, the list I've been dying to get out to you all. New site and definitely much later than intended, but it's finally here! I want to start off by saying as with my prior lists (which you can find at YAM Magazine), this isn't exhaustive, certainly doesn't represent every album that came out last year. There's just way too much music and not enough time in the year! I did, however, listen to 140 albums in 2020. Maybe 2021 will be the year I finally break 200 albums, but I did my best.
Now, before we get into it, as always, I want to share a couple albums that just missed my Top 100. Here are my
Honorable Mentions:
Alanis Morrissette – Such Pretty Forks in the Road
This was actually somewhat disappointing. The album just lacks dynamics. The music is really one-note, droning on in something over-the-top and unnecessarily loud. Alanis herself has a voice that begs for musical subtlety. Music that doesn't drown her out. This is something her music did with perfection in the ’90s. The music and the vocal in perfect synch. Here, the music is attempting to be dramatic, open, expansive. Instead it comes off as arrogant because it’s the same type of composition for almost every song. The lyrics are, as always, breathtakingly introspective, pensive, honest, and raw. All things Alanis does with fearless beauty. But it’s hard to get invested in the album as a cohesive whole. It just drones on from one song to the next. I wanted so much more from one of the musical heroes of the 1990s.
Zene the Zilla – FLOCC
Though not particularly my cup of tea, something has to be said for the pure playability of the album. Zene the Zilla falls into this weird space of trap music that I’m not fond of, but it actually works. So while I might not actually be a fan of the music itself, I can’t deny this has the same appeal of homegrown trap. I could actually hear this album like I was at a concert or standing next to the speakers in a DJ booth. That’s gotta count for something, right?
Now with no more preamble ramble, I give you my Top 100 Albums of 2020! (Click on each album for more information.)
100 - 91
90 - 81
80 - 71
70 - 61
60 - 51
50 - 41
40 - 31
30 - 21
20 - 11
THE TOP 10
And that's my list. As I said, I know I missed a lot of albums last year. Way too much music in the world and not enough time. But hopefully you discovered something new. I certainly hope you discovered something interesting. Did any of these albums make your top list? Let me know!